Saturday 1, Oct 24

Culinary Chemistry – Day 1 Recap

What an exciting first day of Culinary Chemistry! Our young food scientists jumped right into exploring how heat can change food in different ways. Through hands‑on investigations with ice, butter, chocolate, and sugar, students discovered the difference between physical changes and chemical changes and began building the foundation for all the food science learning ahead.

One of our favorite activities was comparing melting chocolate and caramelizing sugar. Students observed changes in color, texture, and smell while discussing an important scientific question: Does heating always create something new? They learned that melted chocolate remains chocolate—making it a physical change—while caramelized sugar becomes a new substance, making it a chemical change. This investigation helped students practice identifying clues such as new smells, new colors, and irreversible changes.

Students also stepped into the role of food scientists as they made predictions, gathered evidence, and revised their thinking based on what they observed. Many shared thoughtful ideas, asked curious questions, and used scientific vocabulary to explain their reasoning. It was wonderful to watch them collaborate, compare results, and think like real scientists.

Family Connection: As you prepare meals this week, challenge your child to identify physical and chemical changes at home. Can they find examples of foods melting, freezing, browning, or cooking?

Questions to Ask at Home: • What was your favorite investigation today? • How is melting chocolate different from caramelizing sugar? • What clues helped you decide whether a change was physical or chemical? • Can you find an example of a physical change in our kitchen? A chemical change?

Next class, we continued exploring how temperature affects food through melting and freezing investigations. More experiments, discoveries, and delicious science awaited!

Tiffani S. Norman Instructor, Culinary Chemistry: Exploring the Science Behind Food

Saturday 2, Oct 31

Our young food scientists had another exciting day of discovery as they explored how heat changed food. Through hands‑on investigations, students observed how temperature affected color, texture, smell, and taste. Students recapped our Week 1 generalization that change happens all around us and can be observed, described, and classified based on what occurs to matter. They also learned how heat can impact materials in different ways, including causing physical changes such as melting and chemical changes that occur when cooking food, helping us better understand the science behind everyday cooking and food preparation.

Students participated in a sensory science experiment by tasting miracle berries before sampling lemons. They were amazed to discover that the miracle berries temporarily changed the way their taste buds perceived sour flavors, causing the lemons to taste surprisingly sweet. This hands-on experience helped students explore how chemical compounds can interact with our senses and influence the way we experience food.

During our Boiling vs. Toasting Investigation, students compared plain and toasted bread as well as raw and cooked vegetables. They used their senses to observe changes and discussed how heat transformed each food. Many noticed that heated foods often smelled stronger and tasted richer than their uncooked counterparts. 

We also investigated what happened when butter melted. Students observed its solid starting state, watched it change as heat was applied, and discussed whether the change could be reversed. Through their observations, they discovered that when melted butter cooled, it returned to its original solid form. Because no new substance was created and the change could be reversed, students concluded that melting butter is a physical change.

Next, students explored what happened when marshmallows were heated. They noticed changes in color, texture, smell, and appearance. Unlike melted butter, toasted marshmallows could not return to their original state. The heat caused new substances to form through, demonstrating a chemical change. This comparison helped students understand the difference between physical changes, which can often be reversed, and chemical changes, which create new substances and are usually permanent.

One of the highlights of the day was our tasting experiences. Students compared heated and unheated foods and used descriptive words to explain differences in texture, flavor, and aroma. It was wonderful to see them support their observations with scientific reasoning. 

Students were also excited about our field trip to the Commons Dining Hall with Chef Brian, where they saw culinary chemistry in action and observed how professional chefs use heat and temperature to transform ingredients. They reviewed how heat impacts the way we cook food by exploring a variety of cooking tools and appliances that produce heat, such as a pizza oven, stovetops, microwaves, and grills. Students discussed how these tools cause both physical and chemical changes in food. To extend their understanding, students experienced freezing and melting in action through a hands-on ice cream activity made with oat milk. As they observed the ingredients freeze into ice cream while simultaneously tasting the ice cream melt, they gained a deeper understanding of how temperature changes can affect matter in different ways.

Family Connection: Invite your child to help prepare a meal or snack during the week. Students could observe what happened when foods were heated, cooled, toasted, boiled, or melted and identify any physical changes. 

Questions to Ask at Home: Which food changed the most when heat was added? Why do you think toast tasted different from bread?  What happened to the butter when it melted? How did heat, temperature, and even time affect the foods you ate? 

During our next class, students will explore the science of mixing and emulsions as they discover why some ingredients blend together while others separate. More hands-on investigations and food science fun awaits! 

Tiffani S. Norman Instructor, Culinary Chemistry: Exploring the Science Behind Food 

Saturday 3, Nov 7

 coming soon 

Saturday 1, Oct 24

Rock Detectives: Exploring Rocks and the Power of Weathering!

Our rising 1st and 2nd graders became rock detectives as we spent the day exploring rocks, asking questions, and investigating how Earth's surface changes over time!

We began by learning about the three types of rocks: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Using magnifying glasses, students carefully examined a variety of rocks, looking for unique colors, textures, patterns, and other interesting details. We also enjoyed reading I'm Trying to Love Rocks, which encouraged us to look at rocks in a whole new way! To add a little creativity to our learning, students decorated their science journals with fun rock stickers.

Next, we turned our attention to weathering and explored how rocks and other materials can be broken down by different forces in nature. Students rotated through four hands-on lab stations, each designed to model a different type of weathering or erosion:

• Wind: We shook sugar cubes inside plastic eggs to investigate how repeated movement can wear materials down over time.
• Friction: We rubbed sandpaper against wood to observe how surfaces change through rubbing and abrasion.
• Water: We shook a piece of candy in a container of water to observe how moving water can wear away and change a material.
• Acid: We placed chalk in white vinegar to observe how an acid reacts with and breaks down a material.

At each station, students made observations, discussed what they noticed, and compared the effects of the different forces. These experiments helped us see how processes that happen in nature over long periods of time can be modeled through classroom investigations.

Our exploration continued with a look at the incredible rock formations in Arches National Park! We read about the park's famous arches and learned about Wall Arch, which collapsed in 2008 after natural processes, including weathering and erosion, gradually weakened the rock. This real-world connection helped students understand that Earth's surface is constantly changing, even when those changes happen too slowly for us to notice day by day.

Throughout our lesson, we also introduced the Scientific Wheel of Investigation and focused on the first step: making observations. From examining rocks with magnifying glasses to recording what happened at each lab station, students practiced slowing down, looking closely, noticing details, and using evidence to describe what they discovered.

We had a wonderful day filled with curiosity, creativity, and scientific discovery! Our young scientists learned that even something as ordinary as a rock can tell a fascinating story—and that careful observations are the beginning of every great investigation.

Ask your young scientist: What was the most interesting thing you observed during our rock investigations? What do you think causes rocks to change over time?

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lett

Saturday 2, Oct 31

Getting Our Hands Dirty: Exploring Soil Formation and Soil Horizons!

We had a blast getting our hands in the dirt during Earth Science today! Our day was filled with hands-on learning, teamwork, creativity, and plenty of messy exploration as we discovered what lies beneath our feet!

We kicked things off with a fun get-to-know-you icebreaker that the class absolutely loved! It was a great way to get everyone talking, laughing, and ready for a day of learning together.

Next, we jumped right back into our study of the rock cycle with a fun review activity. Last week, we learned about the three main types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Today, we brought that learning to life by using clay to create models of each type of rock. The students loved getting creative while reviewing how each type forms!

But why start our soil lesson with rocks? Because most soil begins with rocks! Through weathering and erosion, rocks gradually break down into smaller pieces that become an important part of the soil beneath us. This made the perfect connection as we transitioned into our new topics: soil formation, soil composition, and soil horizons.

We introduced the five major factors that influence soil formation: time, organisms, parent material, climate, and topography. To explore these concepts more deeply, we divided into five small groups, with each group becoming an expert on one of the factors. Their challenge was to research, learn, and prepare a presentation to teach the rest of the class.

And WOW! Our students did an incredible job! Each student presented with such confidence and composure. We especially loved seeing them take ownership of their learning by inviting classmates to ask questions that they could answer. What a wonderful opportunity to practice collaboration, communication, and teaching one another!

After all that hard work, it was time to take our soil samples outside for some fresh air and a little messy exploration! Armed with magnifying glasses, the students took a closer look at different soil samples, observing the tiny details they might otherwise have missed. We then pulled out our science journals and recorded our observations, describing the appearance, smell, and texture of each sample. Scientists use their senses and careful observations to make discoveries, and our students were doing just that!

For our afternoon brain break, we enjoyed a short, fun, and educational video about soil formation and soil horizons. It was the perfect introduction to our final lesson of the day.

We wrapped up with one more hands-on activity: creating our very own soil horizon models in cups! As we layered our materials, we learned about the different layers found beneath the Earth's surface, including bedrock, parent material, subsoil, topsoil, and organic material. Seeing these layers come together helped the students visualize how soil is organized and how each layer plays an important role in the environment.

From modeling rocks with clay to becoming soil experts, conducting outdoor observations, and building our own soil profiles, today was full of opportunities to learn by doing!

We love seeing our students' curiosity grow as they ask questions, work together, share ideas, and discover the science all around them. What a fun day of getting our hands dirty and digging a little deeper into Earth Science!

Here are some questions to ask your scholar at home:

1. Why are rocks an important part of soil formation?
2. What is the difference between weathering and erosion?
3. Can you name the five factors that affect how soil forms?
4. What are some things you might find in soil if you looked at it closely with a magnifying glass?

Sincerely,

Mrs. Lett

Saturday 3, Nov 7

 coming soon 

Saturday 1, Oct 24

From the Robotics Lab: Fun Ways to Keep the Learning Going at Home

Today, our Creative Coders explored the Fibonacci sequence — first by becoming the pattern themselves in a human number line, then by programming Sphero robots to move in repeating patterns based on it. We also dove into how sensors help robots "see" and respond to their environment, and how math concepts like distance and trajectory let us predict and control motion before a robot even moves. It was a day full of pattern-spotting, testing, and revising — the same thinking habits real engineers use every day.

At home, you can extend this learning in playful, low-pressure ways. Challenge your child to find Fibonacci numbers in nature (pinecones, sunflower seeds, and flower petals are great places to start) or have them build their own number pattern and challenge you to guess the rule. If you have building blocks, cups, or dominoes around the house, try setting up a simple "robot maze" and have your child give verbal step-by-step directions to get a sibling, stuffed animal, or even you from one point to another — this reinforces the same sequencing and logic skills used in coding. You might also ask your child to estimate how many steps it would take to walk from the kitchen to their bedroom, then actually count the steps and compare — a simple, hands-on way to practice the same distance and prediction thinking they used with their robots today.

Learners in particular benefit from open-ended "what if" questions, so try asking things like: What if the pattern changed — what would happen next? or how would you fix a robot that kept bumping into walls? These questions invite your child to think like a problem-solver, not just follow steps — and that mindset, more than any single robot or lesson, is what we're building all year long.

Sincerely,

Ms. Moore

Saturday 2, Oct 31

Today our robotics students explored how art, math, and engineering connect through motion, speed, and creative design. We began with a spirograph icebreaker where students designed a “signature logo” using gears and repeating patterns. This warm-up helped them recognize how different gear sizes create different styles—an idea they later applied to robot programming. After reviewing classroom expectations, students jumped into learning how to calculate speed and rate for their Sphero robots. Using a guided lesson and a data‑tracking worksheet, they tested how fast their Sphero moved at different programmed speeds and recorded their predictions before running trials.

Midmorning, students applied their new understanding of speed to a hands‑on challenge: programming their Sphero to knock down bowling pin targets. They experimented with obstacle courses, adjusted speed settings, and used trial‑and‑error to determine which rate produced the most successful “strike.”

In the afternoon, students explored how smart robots use sensors and logic to make decisions. Students then worked on multiple options such as "the hopper race" or "the grabber" building and programming. Finally, students also utilized their builds to add-on a color sensor and have their build drive on the blue tape. This brought our sensors together (by using color) and allowed students trial and error with multiple programming options.

Enrichment Ideas for Home

1. Spirograph + Robotics Connection: Have your child create a new spirograph design at home and ask them to explain how a robot might recreate it. Questions like “Where would the robot need to turn?” or “Would it move fast or slow here?” help reinforce geometry and motion planning.
2. Speed & Prediction Practice: Use any rolling object (a ball, toy car, etc.) and create a short “track” at home. Ask your child to predict how long it will take to travel the distance, then time it together. Compare predictions to results—just like their Sphero speed trials.
3. DIY Robot Art Setup If you have markers and a small rolling toy, tape a marker to the toy and let your child experiment with creating patterns. They can plan a design first, then test how close their “robot” comes to the plan. This mirrors their Sphero art programming.
4. Everyday Conditionals: Practice “if/then” logic during daily routines:

• • If the dog barks, then check the door.
  • If the light turns red, then we stop.
  • If homework is finished, then choose a fun activity. This helps strengthen the same reasoning used in robotics coding.

Sincerely,

Ms. Moore

Saturday 3, Nov 7

coming soon

Saturday 1, Oct 24

Hello SAVY Families,

 The animal expert in your family had a thrilling first day of Fall SAVY 2026: Extreme Animal Encounters. I am eager to tell you about the marvelous learning that took place today!

To start the day, we laid the foundation for our course. Through a reading of The Great Kapok Tree, students were introduced to the concept of interactions. An interaction is defined as “communication or direct involvement between someone or something.” Students noted interactions between living plants and animals and nonliving factors in the story. We then had our first of many mini debates: Should humans cut down trees for the purpose of shelter and safety? It was fascinating to see the SAVY students present their thoughts, and many of them changed their ideas once more evidence from The Great Kapok Tree was presented. To end this lesson, our class came up with four generalizations of interactions: interactions are inevitable, interactions allow for changes, interactions are caused by multiple influences, and interactions can be positive, negative, or mutually beneficial. Ask your child about where their opinions fell in the debate and about their experience sharing their opinions out loud!

After lunch, we spent time studying a real-world problem in our country: the introduction of feral pigs. Some students had background knowledge about this, but for others, it was completely new. Using beans, we created a simulation of what population expansion looks like. This allowed the zoologists to better visualize the scope of the problem in America. Each group was assigned a time, and at either 20, 30, 40, or 50 seconds, their population of beans doubled. The zoologists noted trends in the number of beans in their population and related this to real life hogs. We watched a part of a documentary about the hog problem in America and viewed maps to have further information about the situation. To end the lesson, we returned to our original debate question. Students were encouraged to reconsider their original answer using the new information that was provided to them and provide their new evidence. I was impressed with the zoologists’ willingness to take a risk and change their opinions!

Our final debate question of the day was: ‘Should animals be kept in zoos?” The question was intentionally left vague, so many students had trouble picking a side. We had a mini debate where students were tasked with providing evidence from their existing schema to say why, “Yes, animals should be kept in zoos,” or “No, animals should not be kept in zoos.” I know many SAVY zoologists felt frustrated after this debate, as there is very real evidence for both sides of the question. After the debate, we watched videos about the modern zoo to build upon our evidence from the debate. SAVY zoologists used the videos to recognize the pros and cons of the modern zoo, and many quickly wanted to change their answer from the debate. We will pick up this discussion next Saturday!

To end our day, we looked at the March Mammal Madness bracket from Arizona State University. The SAVY students got to predict which animal would win should the animals have the chance to fight one another. I know this was a highlight of the day for the students!

Questions to ask tonight:

1. What is an interaction? How do you interact with the world around you every day?
2. What is a debate? How did you use a debate structure to learn today?
3. Should humans cut down trees for the purposes of shelter or safety? Why or why not? Did you change your mind in this debate?
4. Should humans intervene in helping animal populations grow or to stop populations from growing? What evidence do you have? Did you change your mind in this debate?
5. Should animals be kept in zoos? What evidence do you have?

I hope all the SAVY zoologists have a great week, and I look forward to seeing them again next Saturday, October 31 for another exciting day of learning!

Sincerely,

Miss Gruchot

Saturday 2, Oct 31

Hello SAVY families!

We had another exciting day of Fall SAVY 2026: Extreme Animal Encounters. I am excited to share our findings and exploration with you!

We started the day by reviewing our content and concepts from last week. We made connections to our generalizations of interactions from experiences that we had since our last class. Then, we returned to the March Mammal Madness bracket. The SAVY zoologists had fun predicting which animals would win, should they have the opportunity to battle. We watched silly, but informational, videos from Arizona State University to see which of the animals made the final four. Ask your SAVY zoologist who they predict will win the final four: the Nile crocodile, the blue whale, the honey badger, or the aurochs, and why!

Next, we started examining how animals interact with their ecosystem. We defined the word ecosystem as a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. This definition of ecosystem helped us understand that animals are always interacting with one another, but they are also always interacting with the nonliving things around them. All environments have both biotic, living, factors, and abiotic, nonliving, factors. Using a series of six cubes, different biotic and abiotic factors were thrown into each of the students’ environments. The SAVY students were challenged to think about the effect of that new biotic or abiotic factor on their environment and draw a model for how that may affect all other living and nonliving things. The discussions from this activity lead many of the SAVY students to make deep connections to the constantly changing world around them. We watched a short video to introduce the concept of climate change and discussed how major changes, like climates or natural disasters, may affect a series of living and nonliving things. Finally, students were faced with a problem: your school is building a new gymnasium, but that will require a pond to be filled in. How will this change, which will benefit your school, harm the environment?

After this, we watched a series of videos showing how various animals work in teams. The zoologists were especially interested in the humpback whale’s bubble net fishing. To put this learning into practice, the zoologists got a partner and an animal. They used an animal behavior card to learn more about the animal, and then they created a model of teamwork based on what their animal does to survive. This model turned into a job application style poster, where the zoologists had to “hire” a new animal for their team and identify the skills that the animal needed. The zoologists were excited to share what they learned about their animals with the class! Be sure to ask your zoologist which animal they made their posted about.

Throughout the course, the SAVY zoologists have been referred to as zoologists, but we had yet to officially define what a zoologist is. The SAVY zoologists were challenged to name as many animals as they could in 3 minutes. Then, we used word parts to define both biologist and zoologist. We examined the difference between these two professions and learned that one thing zoologists do is sort animals. This led to our lesson on binomial nomenclature, which, I believe, was the highlight of the day.  We defined the word and used examples of when different regions have different words for the same thing. For example, sneakers vs. Tennis shoes, and y’all vs. you guys as an anchor for our discussion on the importance of scientific names. We learned the scientific names of different common animals and used fake animals to find trends in naming. The SAVY zoologists then put their creativity to use to create new animals using known scientific names. They had to design the animal, name the animal, and identify how the animal was related to other animals within the same genus and species. Ask your zoologist about the animal they created and who it is related to!

Finally, we learned about the words structure and function and how these words are used when studying animals. Using models of fish bones, the zoologists had to create their own definition of structure and function and how the two are similar and different. Then, we looked at a presentation of animals with peculiar structures. The SAVY zoologists had to hypothesize as to what the function of these strange structures may be. Many zoologists will be eager to continue this work at home!

Questions to ask your zoologist:

1. What is an interaction? How did you study interactions today?
2. What is the importance of scientific names? Why do scientists identify lions as Panthera leo instead of “lion?”
3. What skills did your animal need to be part of a team?
4. How does increasing or decreasing just one biotic or abiotic factor affect an entire ecosystem?

I hope the zoologists have a fun and safe Halloween and week at school, and I look forward to learning alongside them again next week!

Sincerely,

Miss Gruchot

Saturday 3, Nov 7

 coming soon 

Saturday 1, Oct 24

Good evening, students and families!

Welcome to Introduction to Python for Beginners! Today marked the beginning of our three-day coding adventure. Our focus was on learning how to give a computer instructions, writing our first Python programs, and starting a project that students will develop throughout the course.

We began with introductions and a discussion about programming. Python gives us a way to tell a computer what to do, whether that means displaying a greeting, calculating points, asking a question, or eventually making decisions in a game.

Our first Python programs

Students were introduced to Google Colab, the online notebook environment we are using to write and run Python code. They practiced running individual code cells, changing examples, and saving their work.

Our first programming tool was print(), which displays a message on the screen. Students practiced writing greetings and personalizing messages. Throughout the lesson, we followed a simple routine: predict → run → change → explain. Before running code, students considered what might happen; afterward, they could change something and explain the result.

Working with information

Next, we explored variables—names that allow a program to store and use information. Examples included a person’s name, a favorite animal, and points earned in a game.

Students also encountered different types of information, including text, whole numbers, decimals, and true-or-false values. One example highlighted an important difference: Python calculates 2 + 3 as 5, but combines "2" + "3" into the text "23". Quotation marks make a difference!

Making programs interactive

Using input(), students learned how a program can ask a question and receive an answer. Our “About Me Bot” brought these ideas together by asking for a name and hobby, then displaying a personalized greeting.

We also explored why number input sometimes needs an extra step. Because input() collects text, a program must convert a whole-number response with int() before using it in a calculation, such as figuring out someone’s age next year.

Becoming debugging detectives

Finding and fixing mistakes is part of programming. Students examined examples with missing quotation marks, mismatched variable names, and attempts to combine text with numbers.

The goal was to begin treating errors as clues: What is the computer telling us, and what could we change?

Starting our three-day projects

Students were invited to choose one of four projects:

• Number Guessing
• Quiz Challenge
• Choose Your Own Adventure
• Rock-Paper-Scissors

Today’s project goal was to create a welcome message, use a variable, and collect a response from the player. These are the first building blocks of an interactive program. On Day 2, we will explore how programs make decisions, allowing our projects to check answers, respond to choices, and determine outcomes.

Questions to ask your programmer at home

• What message did you make Python display?
• What is a variable in your program?
• How does your “About Me Bot” use your answers?
• What is the difference between 2 + 3 and "2" + "3"?
• Which project did you choose, and how would you like to personalize it?
• What will your program need to decide next?

Thank you for joining us for the start of our Python adventure. Students, keep bringing your questions and ideas—each small change to your code is an opportunity to discover something new!

Here is the Colab notebook used today: Grade5_6_Day1_PythonBasics_ProjectKickoff.ipynb

Sincerely,

Dr. Dash

Saturday 2, Oct 31

Decisions, Loops, and Adventures in Python!

Good evening, students and families!

Our second day of Introduction to Python for Beginners brought an exciting change: programs that could ask questions now began responding to the answers! Building on Day 1’s work with variables, messages, and user input, students explored how to make programs choose different paths, repeat actions, and introduce an element of chance.

Teaching our programs to make decisions

Students learned how if, elif, and else statements allow a program to respond differently depending on what a user enters. A simple animal example helped introduce the idea: choosing “cat” produces one response, choosing “dog” produces another, and entering something else leads to a third response.

These same tools can power much bigger ideas. Does a player win a round? Which path should an adventurer follow? What happens when someone enters an unexpected answer? Students began translating game rules and story ideas into decisions a computer could follow.

We also practiced the difference between assigning a value with = and comparing two values with ==, along with the importance of indentation—the spaces that show Python which instructions belong together.

Discovering repetition and chance

Next, we explored loops. Students practiced using a for loop to repeat an action a set number of times and a while loop to continue while a condition remains true. These tools make it possible to play multiple rounds, keep asking for a valid response, or continue guessing until the correct answer is found.

Lists and Python’s random module added another possibility: letting the computer choose! Students explored how a program can select rock, paper, or scissors from a list or generate a secret number. Random choices help make a game different each time it is played.

Turning ideas into games

Project work connected these concepts to students’ own creative ideas. Their planning posters and developing notebooks included:

A jungle adventure, where players must make choices about finding shelter and surviving in an unfamiliar setting.

An island survival game, with plans for exploring, finding food, and using random numbers to determine outcomes.

A mountain adventure, where different routes lead to new discoveries or unexpected obstacles.

Cave Survival, which uses player choices and variables such as health and hunger to shape the adventure.

Rock-Paper-Scissors games, featuring computer choices and win-or-lose logic, with some teams exploring ideas for scorekeeping, leaderboards, or additional moves.

These projects are works in progress. Students are making decisions about both their code and their designs: What should the player be allowed to do? How should the program respond? Which features should come next?

Testing is part of creating

Today’s work also reinforced why programmers test more than one outcome. A game needs to respond when a player wins, loses, ties, or enters something unexpected. Trying different inputs helps reveal missing instructions and gives students opportunities to debug and improve their programs.

Questions to ask your programmer at home

• What decision does your program make?
• How can a player’s choice change your story or game?
• What does a loop repeat, and when does it stop?
• How does randomness make a game more interesting?
• What feature are you working on next?
• Can you show me two different outcomes in your program?

Students, your project ideas are taking shape! As we look ahead to our third and final class, we will continue building, testing, and refining your creations. I look forward to seeing how you bring your ideas to life.

Here is the Colab notebook used today: Grade5_6_Day2_ConditionalLoop_ProjectBuild.ipynb

Sincerely,

Dr. Dash

Saturday 3, Nov 7

 coming soon 

Saturday 1, Oct 24

We started the day with an icebreaker to get students comfortable making arguments in front of each other and supporting their statements with reasoning. Then we moved on to the introduction of the Listen, Prepare, Deliver, Defend Debate Organizer, laying out our focus for the course: Listening and Response, Organization and Prioritization, Reasoning and Evidence, Expression and Delivery. Students were also given a special Debate Rubric calibrated for gifted individuals' levels of achievement with clear expectations for delivery in each section and presented with six rebuttal techniques. Immediately after we held a public debate on ‘I believe that lying is always wrong’ statement. Half of the class had to support the statement and half —oppose. Students presented in pairs. Each speaker for defense of always telling the truth went immediately after the speaker for opposition, then they had 30 seconds to think, then name a chosen rebuttal technique and deliver a rebuttal.

After this fabulous warm up where students got to practice newly acquired knowledge, learn from each other, and size up potential opponents, we moved on to four trials prep. Each of four groups of four was split into defense and prosecution. Each group had a defendant, a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a witness for prosecution. Defendants were: Little Red Riding Hood, her mom, Big Bad Wolf, and the real estate developer who built all these cottages so close to wildlife habitat. Students prepped in defense and prosecution pairs, running their speeches by me and each other. Each student had to deliver a statement addressing the key points of the accusations and provide four arguments against it or for it, supporting each argument. Defense attorneys and prosecution had to offer rebuttals. Each trial played out in front of the entire class. While one table held trial, all other tables worked as jurors, evaluating each speaker on the special Debate Rubric. I will tally the points and announce which defendants are going to a fairy tale jail, and which ones get to roam free next Saturday. We will also have professional ratings for defense attorneys and prosecution announced, and of course everyone will find out which prosecution witness was most effective.

In addition to all the litigation, we had an incredible guest speaker with extensive debate experience who held an educational and informative Q&A, gave helpful debate points, and even ran a debate exercise. That exercise answered a lifelong question for me: Who do I want to find myself with on an abandoned island? The students decided on two fortune tellers, two retired ninjas, and two parrot trainers. It was a pretty fabulous and educational Saturday to begin our time together. We can’t wait to jump in next week!

Sincerely,

Svetlana Kovalkova-McKenna

Saturday 2, Oct 31

We started the day with the jury results of the trial debate announcements from the first Saturday. The defendants going to jail were Little Red, Wolf, and Little Red's mother. The defender going free was Developer who built the cottages ever so close to the wildlife habitat but kept up with all the permits and could not predict how they would be used. He also had the highest scoring defense attorney. The best witness for the prosecution turned out to be the hunter who testified against Little Red. However, Little Red also scored the best defendant's testimony even though her team lost their case. Adding the points, I did not know till the last-minute which teams were going to win—the scores were that close. To warm up to complex philosophical debates on the nature of art, property rights, and the heart of authenticity of historical artifacts, we first stretched our brains answering the questions: What is school like for a chair compared to a desk? What would a cumulus cloud think of a cirrus cloud? What is a human to a cyborg? What is a toothbrush to a hairbrush? We had an incredible outpour of wit, creativity, and logic. An example that totally impressed me: a human to a cyborg is like a racoon to a maple syrup with added artificial sugar because racoon is all natural and maple syrup diluted with artificial ingredients is like a cyborg. Other brilliant ideas: toothbrush to a hairbrush is like a calculator to computer; a cumulus cloud to a cirrus cloud is like an elephant to a snake or like a tree in full bloom to a tree when its leaves are scattered in the wind; a school chair to a desk is like an audience to a dance floor. Every one of these ideas and more were beautifully defended and supported with the strongest logical arguments. Parents, be warned, you may as well give up now: your kids are getting whatever they want for all the holidays and birthdays from now to forever! You will never outdebate the people who connected racoon and maple syrup.

After lunch and elaborate academic prep in collaboration with their peers, students entered two debates: Team 1 and Team 3 debated the nature of art; Team 2 and Team 4 debated property rights and authenticity of historical artifacts. Each member of the debate team delivered an individual speech and gave two rebuttals. Teams had to share their key ideas and notes with the opposing teams before each rebuttal, which raised the challenge level of this endeavor. Please, ask the students to share the details because it took us more than two hours to hold these fabulous debates and you would want to hear about it from one of the original participants. The scores for these debates will be announced first thing next Saturday. Each student was evaluated by their peers, themselves, and me on a special debate rubric designed for advanced tudents.

Now of course, the best and most passionate persuasive speeches were delivered at the very end of the day in one sentence. Students had to advocate for a favorite fidget to take home on day three. I am still scoring these with results to be unveiled next week.

Sincerely,

Svetlana Kovalkova-McKenna

Saturday 3, Nov 7

 coming soon 

Saturday 1, Oct 24

Today was the first day of learning together, and your wonderful students were introduced to quite a bit of material! They were very engaged from day one as they were introduced to the course generally and given an overview of what to expect during these three days. On the first day, students learned about courts and how a case always starts (and often ends) in a trial court. If a case is appealed, it could potentially travel to the appellate court level and finally to the supreme court level. This course focuses specifically on criminal cases and criminal law generally, so students were introduced to the very concept of criminal law and what it is about. Criminal law encompasses laws, cases and processes that come into effect when someone's behavior unfortunately comes into conflict with certain laws. This behavior often impacts other people and/or their property. It's a balancing act as we wrestle with crafting adequate consequences for folks that violate these laws while also ensuring that their rights are protected as well.  We spoke about the complexity of the criminal law process.

In criminal law in law school, students are taught about the elements of various crimes and how those elements must be met for a person to be found guilty of that crime. Likewise, in this course after introducing students to criminal law generally as well as to certain criminal law characters (prosecutors, defendants, victims, witnesses, etc), we then dove into the specific elements of certain crimes, beginning with homicide (murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide) and assault (simple and aggravated). Students were also taught about the differences between misdemeanors and felonies and about culpability for a crime, meaning the mens rea (mental component of a crime) and actus reus (physical component). Students were provided with the provisions for these various crimes as they are defined in the Tennessee Criminal Code. After being introduced to these crimes students worked in groups in which they read about certain scenarios and determined as a group what type of crime was being illustrated in the example. And they shared their conclusions with the class.

Students were also given the opportunity to hear from a former US Attorney (federal prosecutor), Mr. Tom Jaworski, who was able to provide even more insights about the criminal law process as he spoke about prosecuting federal crimes and his experience in that arena working in NYC, Washington DC, and Nashville’s federal courts. There was a Q and A opportunity as well. I think he was able to give an interesting and useful perspective to the students, and I hope that they gained a lot from hearing him speak.

The students took in a lot of material today. They responded well and were very engaged. If you want to ask them about what they are learning, some questions to ask could be about the differences between levels of criminal offenses (for example, first degree vs second degree, aggravated vs simple or even manslaughter vs murder). I think they can likely share quite a bit about these topics.

Sincerely,

Kimberly A. Goins, Esq.

Saturday 2, Oct 31

Hello! Today was a very busy day for your students. Today, we wrapped up what is considered the criminal law component of the course, meaning we wrapped up discussion about the remaining criminal offenses and defenses. This included the offenses of assault, burglary, robbery, conspiracy and accomplice liability and the defenses of self-defense and insanity. After we wrapped up this part of the course, we transitioned to criminal procedure which focuses more on the rights of the accused. We talked about how even when a person is accused of committing a crime, they still have certain rights that must be protected. We began with the importance of the role of the jury and how there is a right to a jury trial. So that students could experience what being on a jury is potentially like they were split into groups and given a scenario that they had to discuss as a group and select a verdict for as a unanimous jury. If they were unable to come to a unanimous decision, it would result in a mistrial. I thought that students got a lot out of this activity.

Afterwards, together in groups, students read their first criminal procedure case, Gideon v Wainwright, a case which led to the right of Counsel being guaranteed for all criminal law trials. I taught students how to brief cases using the IRAC format (issue, rule, application, conclusion) just as law students do.

Finally, for the last part of class students began to learn about how to prepare for a trial because on the final day of class they all will have the opportunity to take part in a criminal mock trial. We began with an introduction to opening arguments, closing arguments, and direct examinations.

The students are doing a wonderful job, and I'm looking forward to seeing them put together all that they have learned on the final Saturday when they take part in the mock trial.  

Sincerely,
Kimberly A. Goins, Esq.

Saturday 3, Nov 7

 coming soon